The Jeff Jones Show (1984 TV series)
The Jeff Jones Show is an American/Canadian live-action/animated series with a cast and crew from Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom, starring Jake Sanford (b. 1968) and featuring animation based on characters created by himself and other animators and writers. It was produced by CBC of British Columbia (CBUT), Sanford Productions, and Leonard Hill Films (or Hill-Fields Entertainment on the last season) (from 1992-1994) with live-action/animated segments and animation by Apple Entertainment and various animation studios, and distribution by Apple Entertainment (and later ACI Worldwide Distribution internationally) that ran for 11 seasons from February 13, 1984 to September 25, 1994. The animated monster characters later appeared in their (non-canon) 1994 Nickelodeon animated series AAAHH!!! Real Monsters! by Klasky-Csupo. It aired in Syndication from 1984 to 1990 and on The Greeny Channel from 1991-1994. In Canada, it was first shown on CBC stations from 1984 to 1994 with reruns airing until 2007. It started showing on Teletoon Retro (Canada) (now showing on DejaView due to Teletoon Retro closing) and on The Greeny Channel Retro in the United States of America on February 2012, just in time for the show's 25th anniversary. The animatronic characters were built and programmed by Creative Engineering, Inc. of Florida, United States, the puppets were built by Jim Henson's Muppet Workshop in New York, and the main sets were designed and built by Sunset Construction Company. The series spawned three spinoffs, The Kate Jones Show , Jeff Jones' Karaoke Dance Party, a series of karaoke videos, and Kazumi's Lucky Show and a couple of animated series and franchises based off the segments in the show. A reunion special for all three series, Return to the JeffCave aired on June 27, 2013. Characters Live-Action Jake Sanford as Jeff Jones, a typical teenage (later adult) human being who has brown hair and glasses. "Season 0" said that he hates all cats, except a black cat named Spooky, who is actually Oblina in disguise, but the idea was dropped quicker than a hot potato when the series went on national television. Alina Withers as Kate Jones, Jeff's younger sister who has dark brown hair and blue eyes. She was later a main character in her own TV show, The Kate Jones Show. Lala Carters as Mozzi, a huge anthro monster formerly known as Katelyn Jones, Jeff's former cousin and a crazy 17-year-old, who is afraid of monsters. Jeff kicked her out of his house on the first Valentine's Day special on February 7, 1988. In the Season 4 finale, "The Christmas Misadventure", she moved away. At the end of the episode "Essex Chaos" she was transformed into Mozzi, and stayed as Mozzi until 1994, when Jeff sold her at a flea market in order to pay for the phone bills which Jack had racked up with calls to 900 numbers. Angel "Cutie-Pie" Johnson as Kate, Jeff's new girlfriend. She became his wife in a 1994 TV special. Chris Martin as Jeff's single dad, who lives alone at his house near Vancouver, Canada. Jake Wrzesiński as Jack Jones, Jeff's brother, who usually hates cartoons in Season 1, and now likes them in Seasons 2 onward. He also appeared in the cartoons from Season 2 onward. According to one episode he was born in Września, Poland and was adopted by Jeff's family. Alan Martin as himself, a 21-year old, dog-hating journalist who visited the Jones in a few episodes. Sylvan Pirocchi as Ozzy, the owner of the Great Canadian Supermarket. Jack Williams as himself, a news reporter at KID-TV who is obsessed with cheeseburgers, BBQ'ed beef, chicken pie, crunchy peanut butter...... and missiles. According to the episode Guess Who's Coming to Vancouver, he was born in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. Ned Wertimer as Andy Henderson, the longest-serving reporter at KID-TV who often dozes off because of his age. Before he appeared in The Jeff Jones Show, he appeared in the 1964 B-movie Santa Claus Conquers the Martians. Kristian "Chriserella" Michaels (and later April Gauron) as Moose Edwards, Jack's girlfriend. She became his wife in a 1990 episode. Her first actress Kristian Michaels is a male-to-female transgender who started her hormone therapy at the age of 10 and had just finished it at the age of 13 when she got the role. She also did many of the voices on the show (both of which were of different genders). Vira Leonid as Yulia Waloosh, a Russian dance instructor who lives in the JeffCave. She usually instructed dance moves for the audience during specials. According to a 1993 episode, she was born in Chernobyl, Ukraine. She has a hairstyle that makes her look like her hair is on fire. She begins and spells sentences with V's and uses a Russian accent. Robert Stainton as himself, "a boasting butthole" who is known for his relationship with Selena Kitsy. Sasha Sanford as Maria Mars, star reporter for KID-TV. She acts very smiliar to Kent Brockman from The Simpsons, and in one 1990 special only covered the fall of the Berlin Wall because her German cousin "Spankenhiemer" convinced her to. Her prosthetic makeup (a one-piece silicone prosthetic, silicone gloves, fat-suit, dentures and a wig) was reused for Mrs. Walker on The Dog Pound and later for Lucretia Martina on the Dutch candid camera show Ushi & Dushi. According to one episode, she was born in Willemstad, Curaçao. Barūn Kameyama (Janna Dubinski and Yamada Hanako) as Haruko the android, a talking silver and purple robot built by Ozzy. She had an almost daily appearance. Janna Dubinski still owns the Haruko costume today, and used it for her performances as the robot QT in the Bollywood film Love Story 2050. According to one episode, she has to be fixed with a Allen key if she breaks. In that same episode, it was mentioned that Ozzy built her using parts he bought from a thrift shop. Tina Valerie as Tina the Werewolf, a female werewolf. She is naked, a thing that got past the censors (and parents). Tina often appeared in specials. Her prosthetic makeup was later reused for Angelina Timmins' Werewolf form in David Hayter's 2014 horror-action film Wolves. Emilia Baumgartner as Hans, an male anthropomorphic German shepherd dog with hulking muscle. Like Haruko, he had an almost daily appearance. The person who played Hans, Emilia Baumgartner, was a German-born female bodybuilder from Victoria, British Columbia. Emilia showed up at the audition wearing a shirt with a German shepherd on it. She didn’t know if they were going to take her seriously and Jake Sanford looked at her saying "You could play a male character!". She reportedly yelled "I don't want to be a man!" but got over it after Jake gave her the fact that she only needed a full body costume. So in the show, they flattened Emilia down and suited her up in a costume built by a local costumer. The Hans costume was operated via remote control. Hans' voice was dubbed by an uncredited Frank Welker. Christine Martinez as Selena Kitsy, a fat kitsune who sung and was in love with Robert. The Jeff Jones Band, a group of musicians who performed various types of music. The band consisted of: Matt West (trumpet), Kristian Michaels (trumpet, bass guitar), Nancy Lenehan (cello, double bass), Robert Stainton (guitars, keyboard and synth), and Mike Hoffman (keyboard and synth). Jake Sanford played with the band on occasion. It also had a robotic drummer named T-D00K, which was a Dook LaRue animatronic from the Rock-afire Explosion with Terminator-like cosmetics (retaining it's appearence as a dog). Animated Before segments begin, the characters use "Toon Transformers" to become animated. Jeff Jones (voiced by Jake Sanford), a teenage human who wears an Ickis costume and is best friends with monsters, aliens, and bats. He looks like a humanized version of Ickis. His voice sounds a lot like the air conditioner from the 1987 film The Brave Little Toaster. He changed a bit during the show, for example, he grew a goatee in 1992. According to one episode, he was born in Vancouver, Canada. Jack Jones (voiced by Jake Wrzesiński) Jeff's brother who is a fan of personal hijinks. Kate (voiced by Angel Johnson), Jeff's girlfriend and future wife. She first appeared in a 1989 episode, where Jeff in bat form met her in "The Dark Cave", what the bats call their cave. Her bat form inspired the design of Marina from the TV series Silverwing (2003-2004). Ickis (voiced by Chris Williams in 1987-1993, Houschäng Néjadepour in 1993-1994, and Charlie Adler in 1994), a little red monster who is often confused with a bat without wings because of his large ears and nocturnal eyes. According to one episode, he was born in Chilliwack, Canada. He later appeared in the 1994 Nickelodeon animated series AAAHH!!! Real Monsters. Scarlet (voiced by Jennifer Darling), Ickis' girlfriend and future wife. She wears a red dress and has red hair and purple eyelashes. Oblina (voiced by Clara Bella in 1987-1988, show writer Valerie Mancini, in 1988-1991, and Barūn Kameyama in 1991-1994), a black-and-white monster who looks like a banded sea krait with red lips. According to one episode, she was born in Tokyo, Japan. She later appeared in the 1994 Nickelodeon animated series AAAHH!!! Real Monsters. Her 3rd voice actor, Barūn Kameyama was from Tokyo like the character she voiced. Krumm (voiced by Houschäng Néjadepour in 1992 and David Eecles from 1992-1994), an skin-colored monster with eyeballs that are not attached to his body. To humans, his armpits smell like a garbage dump. His first appearance was in the 1992 AAAHH!!! Monsters! segment "Heeere's Krumm!" He later appeared in the 1994 Nickelodeon animated series AAAHH!!! Real Monsters. Mr. Gromble (voiced by Frank Olson), the teacher in the Chuckie's Disposal monster school. He is green-gray with two tufts of hair, a beard, glasses, a tail, and a red hoof on each of his four feet. His catchphrase was "Why-ee-yeeesss?" and his voice and smile were Frank-Nelson-type. His first appearance was in the 1991 AAAHH!!! Monsters! segment "Back to Drool". The glasses were later removed and he was renamed The Gromble in 1994. He later appeared in the 1994 Nickelodeon animated series AAAHH!!! Real Monsters. Slickis and Ickette (both voiced by Frank Welker), Ickis' nurturing parents from his memories. Slickis later appeared in the 1994 Nickelodeon animated series AAAHH!!! Real Monsters, but not Ickette. aLEx (voiced by Dave Stevens), a purple alien with a pink belly and red eyes, and two antenna-like horns. CarL (voiced by Houschäng Néjadepour), an Argokian, a pink alien with blue, almond-shaped eyes, sharp teeth, and a forked tail. Bryan the Shark (voiced by Sylvan Pirocchi), an anthropomorphic great white shark. He has blue eyes, a pink underside, and a belly-button. He later appeared in the 1992 Nickelodeon animated series Shark & Octopus. Boris the Octopus (voiced by Dave Stevens), a pink Pacific giant octopus. He has yellow eyes and he squirts brown ink. He later appeared in the 1992 Nickelodeon animated series Shark & Octopus. Budweiser (voiced by Dan Castellaneta), a yellow alien who spends a lots of his time watching TV and drinking mouthwash. For this reason, the Aliens in the House shorts were banned from Nickelodeon in 1993, but they were still shown on FOX. His voice is the same as Barney Gumble (from The Simpsons). He was renamed Bud in 1994. Kang (voiced by Harry Shearer) and Kodos (voiced by Dan Castellaneta): two green aliens that come from a faraway planet Rigel 7. Jeff first met them at Monster Nightclub in 1988. They later appeared in The Simpsons "Treehouse of Horror" episodes. Mike (voiced by Houschäng Néjadepour), a red monster and a doppelganger of Ickis. Previously appeared in The Secret Meadows special. Cutella (voiced by Sam Ellen), a pink monster and a doppelganger of Oblina. Previously appeared in The Secret Meadows special. Geronimo Stilton (voiced by Houschäng Néjadepour), a talking mouse who lives in New Mouse City on Mouse Island. He works as a journalist and editor for the fictional newspaper The Rodent's Gazette. He appeared in the "Geronimo's Quests" segments, which were spun off into a separate franchise, named after Geronimo. He and the other characters of the GQ segments were created by Elisabetta Dami. Thea Stilton (voiced by Kristian Michaels), Geronimo's sister. She appears in the "Thea and the Thea Sisters" segments alongside Paulina (Bryn McAuley), Colette (Jules de Jongh), Violet (Melissa Altro), Nicky (Tara Strong), and Pamela (Frank Welker impersonating 12-year old Shirley Temple). They later appeared in the Thea Stilton books. Like Geronimo, she was created by Elisabetta Dami. Trap Stilton (voiced by Vance DeGeneres), Trap is Geronimo's cousin. Trap doesn't work for The Rodent's Gazette, but travels along with Geronimo when he is called on. Trap is a bit of a joker and loves to play tricks on people, especially Geronimo, who he considers to be gullible. Trap has a big heart and he doesn't play jokes to be mean. Geronimo thinks Trap should join the real world while Trap thinks Geronimo should lighten up. Benjamin Stilton (voiced by Jake Sanford), Benjamin is the 12-year-old nephew of Geronimo in the cartoon (9-year-old in the books) , and is described as a "near-genius" at computers and electronics. He is dynamic and perk (though a little impatient at times) and loves skateboarding and sports as much as he loves computers. He works with his uncle at The Rodent's Gazette, running a computer news blog after school. He likes to come up with funky sayings such as "We're on the crazy train to Cheese Town!". Very different from the book. Pandora Woz (voiced by Moneca Stori), renamed to Bugsy Wugsy in the book series, Pandora is Benjamin's best friend. Pandora is very enthusiastic about the adventures that Geronimo travels on, and she often comes along for the ride. She likes Thea, because they share a similar, high-spirited enthusiasm for life. Pandora also likes to play jokes on Geronimo, so she and Trap get along really well. Pandora has a tendency to get distracted easily, which can lead her into danger. Pandora also has a hamster known as "Mr. Nibbles". Pandora was later found out to be Geronimo's niece. Sally Ratmousen (voiced by Patricia Drake), Sally Ratmousen is the main antagonist in the segments. She is Stilton's rival at the Gazette. Sally appears as the primary cause of trouble for the Stilton crew when they are in New Mouse City, and she has a personal grudge against Geronimo Stilton. Simon Squealer (voiced by Kristian Michaels), Simon works as the personal assistant of Sally Ratmousen. Simon would do any dirty business for Sally, not because of dedication to the story, the company or to Sally. Simon protects his job at all costs, and is known to go to great lengths to dig up dirt on some famous mouse in New Mouse City. Kristian, due to being a male-to-female transgender, was able to do Simon's voice was trying to impersonate her voice at 6-years old (she was born with two Adam's apples, which were removed when she went through gender reassignment). I.M.EVIL (voiced by Rossen Varbanov), a crazed mad scientist who lives in a castle on top of a toilet in a school. He speaks in a Bulgarian accent and is evil. His design was later used for Tommy's "I'm Not Tommy!" form in the Rugrats episode "In the Dreamtime". SpongeBoy (voiced by Christine Cavanaugh (credited as Josephine Sandberg in Season 6 episodes)), a childish, joyful, eccentric sea sponge who lives in a pineapple in the underwater city of Clam Acres. He works as a fry cook at The Crusty Crab, a job that he is exceptionally skilled. SpongeBoy lacks a lot of knowledge and is a constant annoyance to those around him (especially Squidward Tentacles (voiced by Rodger Bumpass)), but he is very good-natured. His friends are Patrick (Rossen Varbanov), Sandy Cheeks (Carolyn Lawrence), Mr. Krabs (Jake Sanford), and Pearl (Lori Alan). He appeared in the SpongeBoy Ahoy! segments and later appeared (now named SpongeBob) in his own series, SpongeBob SquarePants. Jane Pea (voiced by Melissa Altro using what would later become her Pippi Longstocking voice), a imaginative girl who with her friends, Gina Lash (Rossen Varbanov), Johnny Abatti (Frank Welker), and Gordy Rhinehart (Tiffany Brissette doing her Vicki voice), go to school with Nanette Manoir and her Girl Posse, and get into all sorts of wacky hijinks. She was later renamed "Angela Anaconda" and later appeared in KaBlam shorts and her own series on Fox Family. She appeared in the Jane Pea segments. Minor Characters Alien from Alien (voiced by Smith Field), a talking alien who looks a lot like the creature in the 1979 Ridley Scott film Alien. He only appeared in one episode from 1992, where he was found in Caleb's backyard by Ickis. Alien made a return on the 1992 film Space Case starring Caleb Martin. Batty Koda (voiced by Dan Castellaneta), a talking fruit bat who has wires and antennas fused into his head. He only appeared on one skit, where Jeff was lost in a tropical rainforest. He later appeared in the 1992 film Fern Gully: The Last Rainforest. Kylee (voiced by Kylie Minogue), an Australian pop singer who is famous around the world. She only appeared on one skit, where Jeff bought a ticket to her concert in Vancouver, Canada. Kool Whisp (voiced by MC Hammer), an alien who looks a lot like Twisp, except he wears sunglasses and a hat. Like Twisp, he always pops out of a box of Kool Whisp, a la Jack-in-the-box, whenever anyone opens the box. He first appeared in the episode "Caleb M's Birthday", where Caleb attended his birthday party and opened the present, only to find out that Kool Whisp popped out of it, and he performed "The Birthday Rap (Happy Birthday, Jeff!)" (based on "Holiday Rap" by MC Miker G & DJ Sven). This character is notably created by Jay Ward himself before his death in 1989. Twisp (voiced by Matt West), an alien who looks a lot like Quisp from Jay Ward's 1962 animated series The Karate Turtles, except he's magenta instead of pink. He only appeared in all episodes, whereas he was popping out of any obstacle or even out of nowhere. Like Quisp, he was crazy-eyed and was promoted as a "Quazy Queature". He also has the ability to shapeshift into anything ranging from teacups to boxes. In the episode "Jeff's Birthday", it is revealed that Kool Whisp hates Twisp, because Twisp hates rap music. This character is notably created by Jay Ward himself before his death in 1989. Mark Headmann (voiced by Matt West), a parody of the Max Headroom pirate incident in some Chicago TV channels on November 22, 1987. In one episode, Jeff turned on the TV set and watched Mark get slapped by a girl with a flyswatter. Then, the TV broadcast changed to a scene of a Doctor Who parody. Chuck Naboozle (voiced by Dan Castellaneta) is a rapping monster. He was first mentioned in the episode "Caleb M's Birthday" and was later appear in the episode "Caleb's Big Halloween Party". Fir-Eddy (voiced by Mike Hoffman), a monster who resembles a Christmas tree. He first appeared in one Christmas special, where he shaked the ornaments off himself, after Ickis put a star on top of his head. He soon became a series regular, and even appeared in talking costume form. The Shape Bandit (voiced by then-Kraftwerk member Wolfgang Flür), a shape stealing cat with a German accent. He is grey and wears a beanie, a sweater, and gloves and he has only one set of whiskers. He only appeared in the 1986 episode "The Shape-Stealer". He later appears in a couple Team UmiZoomi episodes. Draco (voiced by Vincent Prince), a vampire bat who is tired of drinking blood and likes eating insects. He only appeared on five episodes and two Halloween specials, the other Halloween special being dedicated to Vincent Price, his voice actor. Douglas Fir (voiced by Steve Duff), an animatronic Christmas tree that sings and dances. It only appeared in one Christmas special, where Ickis walks by it and it sings. When Ickis saw the tree, he screamed and ran away. Douglas Fir later sold in real-life stores, such as Wal-Mart, in the mid-1990's. Screamo Jello (voiced by Audel LaRoque), a purple blob that screams a lot because he is afraid of Jeff and his monsters. Jeff ran him over with the JeffMobile in the episode "Ickis and Jeff in Blobtown". He was the blob who sang "I'm Scared", a style-parody of "I'm Not Scared" by Eighth Wonder. Viewers said that this blob resembles Scream Cheese (from Hotel Transylvania). The BBQ Man (voiced by Hank Azaria), a mentally handicapped man who grilled objects that he thought were food with too much lighter fluid. He almost cooked Ickis and Oblina, until Jeff found him at a abandoned 76 gas station. He sounds like a low-voiced version of Cletus from The Simpsons and looks like Freddy Kruger from A Nightmare on Elm Street. He only appeared in the 1992 special Jeff vs the BBQ Man. Mantenna (voiced by Lou Schiemer), a red, Ickis-like monster with four legs and laser antenna-eyes. He "warp-jumped" from planet Etheria to Earth. He appeared in several episodes. He previously appeared on the 1985 TV series She-Ra: Princess of Power. In this show, his catchphrase is "I'm not Ickis!" In one episode's closed captioning, his name was misspelled as "Mantana". Cartoon Segments *AAAHH!!! Monsters! (Pencil Sharpener Animation and later Klasky-Csupo, 1984-1994; characters later used on Nickelodeon's AAAHH!!! Real Monsters) *aLEx and CarL (Nelvana, 1984-1994) *I.M.EVIL (DIC, 1984-1994) *Zack's Zoo (Pencil Sharpener Animation, 1991-1992, cancelled after the animation studio that produced the skits went out of business, Zack (gender changed and now named Lucy) and animal characters later used on 64 Zoo Lane) *Aliens in the House/Space Goofs (Xilam, 1989-1994, not aired on The Greeny Channel during the daytime due to alcohol references) *My Friends Are Aliens (Xilam/Nelvana, 1988-1994; replaced the Space Goofs shorts on daytime Greeny Channel airings) *The Drunken Boat (Spümcø, 1992, cancelled due to budget cuts, alcohol references that got past the censors, and Spümcø wanting to focus on other shows) *Geronimo's Quests (Geronimo Animation S.r.l., 1991-1994, characters later used in Geronimo Stilton books) *Thea and the Thea Sisters (Geronimo Animation S.r.l., 1991-1994, characters later used in Geronimo Stilton and Thea Stilton books) *Jane Pea (MeMe Animation, 1988-1994) *SpongeBoy Ahoy! (Tomboy Cartoons, 1989-1994, characters later used in SpongeBob SquarePants) *Pingu (Trickfilmstudio Otmar Gutmannn and SRG/ZRG/Telepool/Editoy, 1986-1994, made in Switzerland, later episodes aired on The Kate Jones Show and The Mike Jones Hour) Behind the Scenes Live-Action Seasons "0" (the time in 1983 spent as a local program on CBUT), 1, and 2 were filmed at the VPW studio at 657 Stafford St. in Winnipeg, Canada. As a result, the actors and actresses were flown in from Vancouver (where Jake Sanford lived), Toronto (where Jake Wrzesiński had lived since moving from Poland), Boston, Massachusetts, United States (where Kate Jones' original actress, Alina Withers, lived), and Sacarmento, California, United States (where Lala Carters lived) to Winnipeg. The set at the time resembled the interior of Jake Wrzesiński's childhood home in Poland. When Season 3 came around, filming moved to a converted elementary school in Vancouver's outskirts, nicknamed "A+ Studios" in the show credits and by the show staff. The gym was converted into a set known as "The Jeff Cave" which was located in a abandoned mine in Chiliwack, according to a early Season 6 episode. A hole was made (and fitted with a roll up door) in the gym wall to serve as the exiting and entering area of the "JeffMobile". The JeffMobile was a converted 1982 station wagon (though six of the 16 JeffMobiles were converted station wagons from 1983, 1988, and 1990). The KID-TV news team van (currently owned by Sasha Sanford, Maria Mars' actress) was a on a chassis, painted by Audel LaRoque. The MooseMover, Moose's car, was the Oldsmobile Expression concept car without any changes whatsoever. Kristian Michaels is still in ownership of the car as of 2017. Haruko the robot was Janna Dubinski wearing a costume. She bit down on a rod and bobbed her head as Haruko's mouth moved to a pre-recorded track of a then-unknown Barūn Kameyama speaking into a vocoder that was played by speakers off-camera. The show also featured live animals trained by show writer Valerie Mancini's husband Mark Anderson and later her cousin Anna Mancini after Mark was killed in a "freak cheeseball incident" where he fell onto TTC tracks and was run over by a subway trainset (ironically the same trainset that collided with another in the Russell Hill accident). The Great Canadian Supermarket scenes were filmed at Wallace Avenue Studios in Toronto. Scenes were shot on a camera system which used S-VHS cassettes, nicknamed the "Hogger" by the staff. The Hogger required six people to operate. After live-action filming was done the tapes were transferred to master tapes at Mr. Edit Video Services in Vancouver. Eventually, upon Leonard Hill Films joining production, the show switched to 3 vintage Kodachrome II color 8mm/16mm movie cameras using Kodak Vision2 film. The films were developed, edited and cut, and then transferred to master tapes at Mr. Edit. Animation Episodes were animated after the studios got storyboards from the creators of the shorts. After the skits were animated they were sent to Canada on NTSC, SECAM, and PAL format tapes and transferred to the master tapes at Mr. Edit Video Services. The AAAHH!!! Monsters! segments used a special animation technique. *The backgrounds were miniature sets (made with various materials and usually built on 2 or more 4 by 8 feet (1,200 mm × 2,400 mm) sheets of plywood), built by the team who later made the sets for the preschool TV series Theodore Tugboat, that were photographed using a large picture camera. *The characters and some objects were animated by hand by animators at Pencil Sharpener Animation (later at Klasky Csupo) and were cells photographed onto pictures of the sets. *Special effects were drawn on a Alias-1 program on a SGI workstation and animated using computer animation controlled by a joystick (one based using the blueprints of the joysticks used in the Project Gemini rocketships). Alias Research custom built the system for the show. *Simon the Monster Hunter and other human characters were live-action actors and actresses and child actors and actresses shot in front of a blue screen. Make-up Make-up was done for the live-action segments by Fred Phillips, Janna Phillips & Ve Neill. Jake Sanford and Janna Phillips made the prosthetic makeup pieces for Mozzi, Tina, and Maria Mars. Mozzi and Tina used Jake's patented "SuctionX" technology (of which suction cups are attached to a latex mask and the actor/actress' face to give all sorts of emotions). Lala Carters described the Mozzi makeup in a interview for Fox News in 2008: "Grueling yes – because the work everyday was hard. Mozzi's make-up, dealing with daddy long legs arachnids and paint peeling off walls … If I remember correctly – the Mozzi makeup for my face took five hours to get on and three to get off. It was terrible and Chris Martin wouldn’t sit by me during lunch break of the episode where Moose and Mozzi worked to get a dance crew for the JeffCave because he thought I was too ugly.". Replacements Sometimes, the voice actors would get replaced. Houschäng Néjadepour (ex-Kraftwerk member) replaced Chris Williams as Ickis due to Chris leaving the show to join the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Chris later returned as a vocal coach. Simon the Monster Hunter's initial actor, Ethan Stravinsky, quit the show to pursue a job as a chef, and was replaced by Jake Sanford. The initial actor of Kate Jones, Jensen McHardy, left halfway through Season 1 so she and her family could accompany her father in the United States Navy. Jensen later rejoined the show as an assistant to Alina Withers. "No budget" Apple Entertainment was somewhat notorious for giving the set, prop, and costume designers of the show a shoestring budget; that is, a bundle of shoe strings that they were expected to make fifteen props out of. According to Jake Sanford, "Most of the props probably fell out the back of a Salvation Army truck". * The Season 1 "Toon Transformer" was obviously an Danish dining room hanging lamp drilled upside-down to the top of a 1950's blender. * Kate's "Toon Transformer" was obviously a resin of a Teddy Ruxpin doll drilled to the top of a large scale model of the bomb. * In some shots from the sky, cars were represented by peanuts painted yellow, green, white, and blue with bike torque sensors glued to the underneaths of them in and the "city" was made with black construction paper with yellow and white marks drawn on them (for roads) and model railroad layout buildings. * Then there's the werewolf quarry owner "John E. Sawyer" in the "Quarry Battles" episode (there was no animated segments with Jeff or Jack), whose costume consists of a 1970's Halloween costume and a three-piece suit. * The queen in the episode "Jeff and Jack and Kate's Medieval Adventure" (there was no animated segments with Jeff or Jack). Her costume consists of a Harley Quinn Halloween costume mixed with a ballet suit and a dime store Halloween tiara, all painted pink. * The crowd in some shots of "Jeff's Big Race" (there was no animated segments with Jeff or Jack) was made from action figures and dolls hotglued to 8 (on each doll/figure) Q-tips and positioned in the custom made racetrack seatings so that someone could wiggle the bottoms and make it look like a crowd shifting positions. * Jack's "Super Gun" that can do random things to enemies and some characters was a perfectly normal Wham-O Air Blaster. In Season 1, the producers couldn't afford the ray effect (and accompanying sound effect) used for it in later seasons. It just made the normal "pop" noise they always do, and the "randomized" enemies' actors and actresses tried really hard to do silly things. * The show went through dozens of monster costumes made from for the episodes with no animated segments with Jeff or Jack. * The show used the toy replicas for the Toon Transformers in Season 4, and actors would mention crew members having to order Toon Transformer toys from magazines to replace broken ones. * "Jeff's Big Race" has the infamous racing scenes. Because some live-action shots were filmed on the abandoned sections of the Pennsylvania Turnpike in the United States in some shots the cars had to go really slow so the editors cheesley sped the video up (some shots used chroma key to avoid this problem). * At one point in "What's Cooking?", Haruko's costume falls apart. You can clearly see Haruko's butt about to begin falling off, revealing the latex suit worn underneath by the performer, as she begins to walk away. This was the take they used in the episode. Fatal method acting A lot of "fatal method acting" near-misses (with some deaths and suicides) occurred during show production. * During the filming of "Werechickens of Vancouver", the entire production crew went full derp, and decided to ignore the fact that Environment Canada had issued a Severe Thunderstorm Warning for Cape Breton Island, where they were filming the episode. During the filming of the "Moose as a werechicken runs after Kate Jones" scene, Sharon Baird ran in the Werechicken form of Moose's costume, but as she ran after Alina Withers, lightning struck a tree that had been half-chopped. As the tree started to collapse, Gilmar Sanford shouted "Get her out of the way!" and seconds after two stuntman pushed Sharon to safety as the tree toppled over and crashed into a million pieces on the set. The take before that one was used in the final version of the episode, while the take with Sharon's near-death was the one used in the "Remembering the Brozos" sequence in the final episode. * During filming of "Jeff's Big Race", the "Crazy Buz" driven by "Mad McDoofus" was hit by the VIA LRC train that the producers had set up for the filming of the "cars almost hit by train scene" and then tumbled all the way down a nearby hill. Luckily, the stunt driver was wearing a HANS device and a super-strong helmet, and climbed out of the wrecked bus without a scratch. The good news? It was covered by insurance (Jake Sanford stated in a 1998 interview that all the bus company renting the "Crazy Buz" could write on the insurance claim for "cause" was "bus hit by rented VIA train during filming of really cheesy TV show on that station that broadcasts Hockey Night in Canada" and hope they were believed). The bad news? It was a brand spankin' new Thomas/International school bus. The even badder news? Sanford Productions had to pay for the major repairs to the bus. Also, during filming of the same episode, a stunt JeffMobile crashed into the front of a Zellers store killing two cashiers and wounding thirty-nine people, including a mother and son and the stunt driver. * During filming of "I'm Fat!" (a musical episode devoted to Selena Kitsy), a stunt MooseMover (which was a dune buggy styled after the Oldsmobile Expression concept car, which was used as the MooseMover) slammed into a public prayer. * During filming of "Kate and Moose the Space Idiots" (a backdoor pilot for a spin-off that never made a single episode), Mike Hoffman suffered an allergic reaction to the colorful smoke that came out of Blork the alien's horn-like head object and almost died. * During filming of "Movin' On Up", the fire raging through the original house was real (an abandoned house somewhere in Vancouver doubled as the original home). Unfortunately, it began to get out of hand, and ten seconds after Gilmar Sanford yelled "Cut", the house collapsed. That was the take they used in the episode. * This happened several times during the free show at the Malkin Bowl in Stanley Park put on by the cast and crew in 1992. ** After performing "All the Homeless Babies Died", Robert jumped into a temporary reflecting pool in front of the stage. Mid-air he realized his Moog Liberation keytar was still strapped on, and he then camly turned down the volume on it, took it off and tossed it away just in time before he could electrocute himself. Jake stated in 1998, "Robert is rebellious and is kind of an asshole, but deep down he's a safety freak." *** The Liberation was not damaged, as Jake Sanford caught it and ran off as Robert made the splash. ** While performing the Devo song "Baby Doll", Jake spotted a lone fan climbing on stage and making a dash for April Gauron (Moose's new actress). Fearing that he could rape her, Jake calmly turned down the volume on his La Baye 2x4, hit the guy over the head with it, strapped it back on, turned up the volume and kept playing without missing a beat. Then Mike Hoffman went down to the police station and bailed him out. Tie-Ins On August 11, 1987, the special episode, Ickis and Jeff at the Supermarket, was produced for the occasion, which features a crossover with Heathcliff and the Catillac Cats and The Kate Jones Show. The sequel, Back at the Great Canadian Supermarket, was also produced for the occasion. During the height of its popularity (1984–1994) the show had a number of tie-ins. The merchandise based on the show ranged from Kraft Macaroni & Cheese, and Kellogg's cereal to boxer shorts, flip-flops, pajamas, t-shirts, slippers, Pez dispensers, ERTL models of the cast, characters, and buildings, answering machines, McDonald's Happy Meals, an Canadian Pacific Airways plane painted up in a wrap for an ad for the show on CBC, bikes, CDs, vinyl records, cassettes, video tapes, special editions of the Ibanez Iceman and Ibanez JEM electric guitars (issued in 1990 and of which added decals and embroidery of the characters and the show's logo to top spec models sold for $99.99 each, with the profits from them going to the Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine (now known as Shriners International)), a radio station (CJEF-FM, who's frequency was later used for CKAV-FM), soft drinks, and a restaurant chain. In 1989, the cast appeared in a British public information film about the dangers of drunk-driving. This PIF was later edited and aired as a PSA in the United States and Canada. Upon the release of "Ickis and Jeff at the Supermarket" episode in 1987, the Ickis Cereal by Ralston-Purina is released, and is easily described as lightly sweetened Rice Chex (described in advertising as "Monster Nets") with Ickis-themed marshmallows. The cereal had many gimmicks and contests, such as one to win a complete collection of Ickis action figures, as well as free premiums inside the box like mini-comics and a pouch of cherry-flavored syrup topping. The restaurant chain themed after the show, Jeff's Craze-staurant, had locations in nearly all U.S. states, 9 out of 13 provinces and territories of Canada, along with Aruba, Puerto Rico, and Guam. One location remains, in Vancouver. It is run by Jake Sanford, and the Vancouver restaurant has received positive reviews from The Great Canadian Food Show and has been awarded "Best Fried Clams North of the United States" by a local Vancouver cuisine zine, named Foodworld. Legacy In 1986, Jake Sanford (in character as Jeff Jones) appeared at a "Just Say No" rally at the White House in 1986. In 1991, the cast and crew met with Elizabeth II and were honored with medals. After the cancellation of the show, most of the production staff moved on to work on Greeny Phatom, a show created by Jeff Jones Band piano player Robert Stainton. Alina Withers is a noted member of the furry fandom, having been provoked by furries who had watched the show. Kristian Michaels is also in said fandom. Matt West, the voice actor of Twisp and Mark Headman, and one of the members of the Jeff Jones Band, now works as an R&B singer in Alberta. Mike Hoffman, the voice of Fir-Eddy, is active in motorsports. Jensen McHardy, Kate Jones' original actress, now lives in Truth or Consequences, New Mexico, United States as a bartender. She is friends with Alina Withers. Angel Johnson is a circus clown, and plays one for Apple's Big Top. Sylvan Pirocchi explained the series in a 2009 interview: "We almost never got that far with the show. It's like if I never got my chance to be on national TV" Kristian Michaels stated in her coming out of the closet (she had been a transgender (male to female) woman for nearly 30 years) speech in 2004: "My gender switch never made national headlines. But my work on the show did, when recently, my husband recalled the day I had my birth certificate changed to list me as a "Female (former Male)" before we married, and I thought: "Wow, that's really stupid that they don't allow you to marry if your birth certificate lists you as a man", and then people learned that Moose Edwards was played by a transwoman." Janna Dubinski stated in 2005: "My mother was shocked to learn I was inside a cyborg costume... she felt it was not right... like the fact that my co-stars are now furries." Jack Williams stated that he never thought one technical mistake at WBZ could make him a star on the show. Ned Wertimer never spoke of the series often after the show was cancelled, but before his death he was talking about it positively. Tina Valerie, now working as a "shooer" for Jake Sanford's free range chicken farm, has retained a friendship with him over the years, even letting her state in a interview "I'm proud that I played a werewolf without my parents being pissed at me!" The show has a star on Canada's Walk of Fame. The show is so fondly remembered in the United Kingdom, that pretty much everyone who was a kid in the late 80's-early 90's and watched BBC 1 a lot at the time can do an impression of Robert saying "Jeff drank the Jeffmobile's battery fluid!". And if you ask them a question they don't wanna answer, chances are they'll respond with "One preist would say "no way Jose!", and the other would say yeah", a quote from an episode where Moose asks Jeff's religious mother about if transsexual rights should be implanted. A Christian redub of the Leonard Hill Films episodes (known to fans as the "Good Book Dub") was syndicated to religious TV stations around 2007-2009 by a small company known as "Good Book Enterprises", with characters often saying "and the Bible says" or "as what the Bible tells us" with references to Christianity heavily implanted. The Christian dub is included as a easter egg on the complete series boxset's bonus features disk. Main Theme The theme song was "You Think You're a Man" by Divine and the ending theme was "Boing Boom Tschak" by Kraftwerk ("Showroom Dummies" for Season 1 and 2 episodes). Soundtrack The program featured a predominantly post-disco soundtrack, with various genres of metal and punk, new wave, no wave, and other genres of music thrown in the mix. * In "The Underground (monster nightclub)" setting, the music is usually an Italo-Disco, Hi-NRG, New Beat, or Acid House tune (Eurodance in 1994 episodes). * When Jeff met Kang and Kodos, the music in the background was a slightly faster remixed version of "Angel Eyes" by Lime. The same version of this song appeared at a costume-dance party in a 1989 Halloween Special and the series finale segment of Thea and the Thea Sisters. * When Selena rolls down a hill in the snow and crashes into Robert, leading to the start of their relationship, the music in the background was "Island of Lost Souls" by Blondie. The same song appeared in the series finale segment of Jane Pea. * When Jack gets hit with a whip by a cowboy in a fantasy sequence in the banned episode "Selena, Get Off Me!", a slightly slower version of "Whip It" by Devo is heard. The normal version of the song was heard in the series finale segment of aLEx and CarL. * When Jeff and Jack are stopping bullies in an 1993 anti-bullying episode, a slightly 120-beat version of "Babe, We're Gonna Love Tonight" is heard. * Many of the songs in this show were performed by Italian-born local Vancouver nightclub signer Sylvan Pirocchi and composed by Spanish-born Toronto based musician "DJ Mike Esposito". * Some episodes such as "It's Not Candy" and the banned episode "Ickis, What are You Doing?" use a song that sounds like an instrumental version of "Roadrunner" by UK as a part of their soundtracks. * Some episodes, including "Jeff Meets Mantenna" and some aLEX and CarL segments, use "Galactica" by Rockets. This song was later used in Jake's 2012 film Argok: A Musical Alien Story. * In the final episode as the characters wave goodbye to the audience, the song "Beds Are Burning" by Midnight Oil is heard. It was later replaced with "The Little Ships" by Jean Jacques Perrey in reruns due to licensing issues, but "Beds Are Burning" was restored for the 2013 DVD release of the Complete Series. * Other songs heard in this show are "Dolce Vita" by Kristian Conde, "Happy Station" by Fun Fun, "The night is wild in the forest..." by Fresh, "Happy Song" by Baby's Gang, "Into the Night" by Michael Fortunati, "Marinero" by Lucia, and "Upside Down" by Coo Coo. * In the pilot episode, the theme song was "Sentimental Trip" by Jean-Jacques Perrey and the ending theme was "Boys and Girls" also by Jean-Jacques Perrey. Episodes * Season 0 (1983) * Pilot (Late 1983) * Season 1 (1984) * Season 2 (1985) * Season 3 (1986) * Season 4 (1987) * Season 5 (1988) * Season 6 (1989) * Season 7 (1990) * Season 8 (1991) * Season 9 (1992) * Season 10 (1993) * Season 11 (1994) * Unaired/Test episodes List of Other TJJS Media * Why Are People Afraid of Me? (1977, released by Frank Astaire Releasing) * My Favorite Gremlin (1978, released by Frank Astaire Releasing) * The Jeff Jones Movie (1988, released by Clubhouse Pictures and Apple Entertainment) * Ickis' Monster Christmas Movie (1992, released by 20th Century Fox) * Ickis' Fun-Size Halloween Movie (1993, released by 20th Century Fox) * Jeff Jones' Crazy Adventure (1994, released by Central Park Media) Home media The show had VHS and Laserdisc releases in the 80's and 90's by René Malo Vidéo/Malofilm Video in Canada and Goodtimes Home Video/Goodtimes Entertainment in the United States. The Phoenix Learning Group released several "Best Of" compilations of the show on DVD and MiniDVD in the mid-2000's. In 2013, Echo Bridge Home Entertainment released the complete series on DVD and Blu-Ray, remastered in HD with Dolby Digital Plus sound from the original MII videocassette master tapes. Rights The show's rights are currently held by The Cannonball Company, a joint-venture between Sanford Productions, FremantleMedia, Stainton Enterprises, and Apple Entertainment, Inc. Gallery 2050r.jpg|Haruko Ubhheajjbsu8l4zfby-z3cshq5rqimlt5jes1qyb9ji.jpg|Tina uCSNVvB2Gh9PI0FBTRCD0A7651.png|Ickis 163zYLrsIIT6IovYWxyT4Q12594.png|Krumm Ojfs2z9mh7OqL05mpdhemw5730.png|Oblina love-story-2050.jpg|Haruko and Ozzy in The Jeff Jones Movie. bandicam 2015-12-06 19-16-02-300.png|Haruko from the back 6e14e50232ba39f93e8b5d57544da110.png|Hans' design Category:TV Shows